


Picking and Healing

by NoContextUniverse



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bad Poetry, Dermatillomania, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mentions of Blood, Poetry, Reversable Poem, Reversable Poetry, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 15:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19254190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoContextUniverse/pseuds/NoContextUniverse
Summary: A reversible poem.Excoriation disorder (also referred to as chronic skin-picking or dermatillomania) is a mental illness related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is characterized by repeated picking at one's own skin which results in skin lesions and causes significant disruption in one's life.





	Picking and Healing

Picking

I am not touching my scalp  
but  
with a need to be scratched,  
the scab pulses.  
Throughout the day and night  
it calls me.  
Rip your skin,  
it says,  
Tear it all until there's nothing left

I clasp my hands in my lap to stop  
but  
my hands crawl through my scalp and twists through my hair  
searching for more.  
The bumps,  
the scabs,  
All of it is picked, ripped, dug until it draws blood.  
The relief washes over me, satisfied until my hands move.  
Again.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Healing

Again,  
the relief washes over me, satisfied until my hands move.  
All of it is picked, ripped, dug until it draws blood,  
the scabs,  
the bumps.  
Searching for more,  
my hands crawl through my scalp,  
but  
I clasp my hands in my lap to stop.

Tear it all until there's nothing left,  
it says,  
rip your skin.  
It calls me  
throughout day and night.  
The scab pulses,  
with a need to be scratched,  
but  
I am not touching my scalp.


End file.
